Boxing

Dominic Breazeale plans on using his big weight advantage to defeat Deontay Wilder on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Breazeale (20-1, 18 KOs) says he’s at a solid 250 pounds right now. Breazeale believes that Wilder should be fighting at cruiseriweight, not heavyweight. He’s too light for the division.

BELFAST (May 14, 2019) —Michael “Mick” Conlan’s amateur career ended in controversy and a pair of middle fingers. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Conlan appeared to have bested Russian standout Vladimir Nikitin in the 56-kilogram quarterfinals. The judges disagreed, and Conlan responded with a memorable double middle-finger salute.

Heavyweight Joe Joyce (8-0, 8 KOs) wants to look impressive this Saturday night on May 18 in his fight against 42-year-old Alexander Ustinov (34-3, 25 KOs) on the undercard of the Billy Joe Saunders vs. Shefat Isufi at the Lamex Stadium, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.

Errol Spence Jr. is confident that a welterweight unification between him and Terence Crawford will be taking place in 2020, but it’s going to have to be at a 60-40 split in his favor before it can take place. As long as Crawford and his promoters at Top Rank Boxing are willing to accept the smaller purse split, the fight with Spence can take place. Spence likely won’t agree to let Crawford get a 50-50 deal. If Crawford and Top Rank push for parity, the fight with Spence will likely never happen.

Former world champions Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs) and Danny “Swift” Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) are in negotiations to fight each other in August at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The winner of the Danny Garcia vs. Mikey fight is expected to be face the winner of the July 20th fight between Manny Pacquiao and WBA Super World welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, according to Lance Pugmire of the LA Times.

Undefeated #1 WBO 175-pound contender Anthony Yardehas reportedly signed his portion of the contract to challenge WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on June 29 in Russia, according to the Tass Agency. The venue for the fight still hasn’t been decided yet. Kovalev’s co-promoters at Top Rank expected to make an announcement soon about the fight.

The fight, announced Saturday night, will take place July 20 (Fox PPV), likely in Las Vegas, and should be a treat for fans. It's a fight that Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs), 30, of Clearwater, Florida, has wanted.

Thurman returned in January from a 22-month layoff caused by injuries and had a tougher-than-expected time in a decision win over Josesito Lopez to retain his belt for the fifth time. Against Pacquiao, it will be interesting to see if Thurman was just shaking off the rust against Lopez or if the injuries and layoffs have truly taken their toll.

WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt and challenger Francisco Vargas made weight on Friday for their headliner fight, and WBO super bantamweight champion Emanuel Navarrete and former champion Isaac Dogboe weighed successfully for their respective fights on Saturday fight on LIVE on ESPN and ESPN Deportes at the Convention Center, in Tucson, Arizona. The card on ESPN will start at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. The undercard bouts will be LIVE on ESPN+ beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET